ROCKERS REVENGE’S imminent adaptation of Jimmy Cliff’s ‘The Harder They Come’ is immediately recognisable as them (on exclusive 114bpm acetate promo) but not as excitingly special as was ‘Walking On Sunshine’ . . . Piccadilly Radio’s soul jock Mike Shaft, with support from Spin Inn Records Kev Edwards and the rest of the Manchester mafia, has launched a slightly skimpy (so far) but glossily printed magazine called — you’ll never believe this — ‘TCOB NOW’, the first part being of course ‘Taking Care Of Business’, but are you ready for ‘North Of Watford’!? (details on 061-434 6362) . . . Showstoppers South Of France trip to a fully equipped hotel and club site in the SW of France rather than at St Tropez) with Chris Hill, Froggy, Tongy, Youngy, Collinsy, Jonesy jocking is offered in two overlapping lengths, May 20-June 5 (£175)/May 27-June 5 (£150), full details from lovely Kim on 01-886 1426 . . . Thames Valley DJ Association’s big ‘Shownite 83’ is this Monday (17) at Hounslow’s Red Lion Hotel 8pm-2am, £3 a ticket, with awards, video displays, the Cold Hand Band live and much more . . . ‘Kibbitzing’ Joe Adelman (Friend of the Stars) does one hour spots nightly except Friday at the revamped Studio Valbonne in Soho’s Kingly Street, where a good lighting operator is needed . . . Gary Oldis (Aycliffe Bee-Jays) is desperate for a copy of Paulette Reeves ‘Jazz Freak‘ — call Darlington 82134 anytime in the next 50 years, after 10am! . . . Gillingham-based John Clancy (0634 53992) specializes in MoR work but can’t find enough gigs, club work especially . . . Cleveland Area DJ Assn’s new number is Middlesbrough 244700, c/o Graham Murray of the Teesvalley Roadshow still . . . ‘Be Mine Tonight‘ is the Jammers biggest track, not as printed last week . . . ‘I’ll Be Around’ hit in ’72, as students of maths probably worked out . . . Capital’s David Rodigan is having fun using snippets of ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ as carted stabs between reggae tracks . . . Lenny Henry, whose Break Wind & Fire and Buck Cherry were brilliant last Saturday, ate so much at the Ponderosa while appearing at Watford Baileys he couldn’t move on stage! . . . I had just got to the words ‘Steve Wright’ while reading RM in the library at Capital Radio last week when in walked my favourite DJ with someone I didn’t recognize: Peter Young was, by incredible coincidence, with Steve Wright himself — it turns out his crack about a vocabulary of ten words was aimed at all the imitators of Roger Scott rather than at Rog himself! . . . Kev Hill at a New Year’s gig in Wanstead relayed Big Ben from my Capital four hour continuous party music show and immediately got sucked into the following mixes — it was 20 minutes before he could get back into his own records! . . . Imagination’s Santa Claus outfits for their Hammersmith “carol service” cost a cool £2,000 — they obviously don’t shop at Roger Squire’s . . . Nigel Halkes (Portishead) ensured a namecheck by sending me the first Christmas card of 1983 — but would have rated a mention anyway for info-ing that one Bristol DJ had to return ‘Buffalo Gals’ because it was scratched! . . . SCRATCH ON!

THE GALAXY-TU ORCHESTRA: ‘Always And Forever’ (US Moonglow MGW 107).
I nearly got writer’s cramp from giving out the details last Saturday at Gullivers while playing this fabulously “yukky” 51-0bpm 12in knee trembler, an instrumental chix chorused version of Heatwave’s classic smoocher overlaid with a gorgeously corny “wedding vows” rap by Rosko — not the Emperor, but the veteran US jock whose schtick always was heavy mysticism — the flip being the same again with a ‘Desiderata’ rap.

CENTRAL LINE: ‘Nature Boy’ (Mercury MERX 131).
Oh dear — the new UK-only A-side ‘Full Version’ has been ruined by a mood destroying overly busy intro before finally settling into the interestingly backed but more suitably tranquil (and now re-dubbed) 115bpm vocal section which was so impressive in its entirety on the US version — however, this far better less gimmicky 115½bpm US original (oddly here as ’83 Mix’) is on 3-track 12in flip, along with an unnecessary repeat of ‘You’ve Said Enough‘ instead of the anticipated instrumental.

ANGELA BOFILL: ‘Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing’ (LP ‘Too Tough’ US Arista AL 9616).
Narada Michael Walden has found a far more rewardingly pliable “little girl” voice than Stacy Lattisaw’s to produce (on one side, Angela doing the other herself), the 119bpm title track jolter being very Stacy while the real standout is this gorgeous Boz Scaggs-duetted 94bpm revival of Marvin & Tammi’s classic, most other tracks being delicate slowies although her own ‘Is This A Dream‘ is a mildly strutting 111bpm jogger.

MELBA MOORE: ‘Mind Up Tonight’ (Capitol 12CL 272).
More of that mind numbing Paul Lawrence Jones III produced 116bpm “shopgirl” beat, indistinguishable from Evelyn King, on 4-track 12in with an instrumental version, the slow ‘The Other Side Of The Rainbow’ and older ‘Piece Of The Rock’.

MELLE MEL & DUKE BOOTEE: ‘Message II (Survival)’ (Sugarhill SHL 119).
Two of the Furious Five rabbit on about how “only the strong can survive” over a jittery 125bpm 12in electronic beat (instrumental flip), good with Soul Sonic Patrol orbiters, in similar vocal style to but nowhere as incisive as ‘The Message’.

THE ADC BAND: ‘Hot Legs’ (US UhUrU International UH 12-01).
Co-produced in Atlanta by John Abbey, this fun filled frisky 118½bpm 12in funky high stepper has vocoder answering the lead fella’s drooling salacious “tenderloin US DA certified” remarks about ladies legs, while the 103-102-101-100bpm ‘Show Stopper‘ flip really grooves nicely in a very subtle way with drifting tinkly piano.

ELOISE LAWS: ‘I’ve Got The Rhythm, You’ve Got The Blues’ (LP ‘All In Time’ US Capitol ST-12252).
Incredibly sweetly sung airily jaunty 118-119bpm little tripper, real grower (do try it — it’s a joy), the rest of the family affair being more brittle and best for home listening.

HARRY RAY: ‘Love Is A Game’ (LP ‘It’s Good To Be Home’ US Sugarhill SH 269).
Nice set of sugary sweet slowies, some harking very obviously back to his days as lead singer with the Moments (and more recently of course, Ray, Goodman & Brown), most contemporary in feel being this breathy 113-114bpm swayer and the lushly rolling slower 96½bpm ‘You Ain’t Been Loved’.

SLAVE: ‘Visions Of The Lite’ (US Cotillion 90024-1).
Sinuous subtlety rather than blazing excitement has always been Slave’s forte, but, now minus Steve Arrington, they badly need some excitement injected here as slick sinuosity alone can be kinda dull. Such cuts as the 120-122-120-122-120bpm ‘Do You Like It . . . (Girl)’, 106-107bpm ‘I’ll Be Gone‘, 0-108bpm ‘Intro (Come To Blow Ya Mind)‘ 111-112bpm ‘Friday Nites‘ (others include the 0-116-117-118-119bpm ‘Be My Babe’, 118bpm ‘Visions’, 125-129-0-126bpm ‘Sweet Thang’) are evidently getting response but I cannot really believe the mailing list serviced set is as big on the floor as accumulated chart positions might suggest.

KLEEER: ‘Stonseee’ (LP ‘Get Ready’ US Atlantic 80038-1).
Far from their best though with individual tracks better than anything on the bigger selling Slave set, like this great drily humorous 107bpm funk rapper mainly spoken by a butch voiced “General Beauregard Stonseee” who wants to learn how to become a disc jockey, and the delicate lovely lush slow 0-33½-67bpm ‘Say You’ll Stay‘, admittedly a lot less remarkable being the ponderous 106bpm title track, acappella started jerky 122bpm ‘She Said She Loves Me‘, snapping 122bpm ‘Pritty Things‘, subdued 110½bpm ‘Your Love Is What I Need‘, frantic 142bpm ‘Slidin’ & Glidin‘.

THE FUNKACISE GANG: ‘Funkacise’ (US GRP GRP-T-4001).
Tom Browne and the GRP All-Stars team up for a possibly slightly corny but good ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’-mixing 114½bpm 12in rap variation on ‘Work That Body’, the instrumental flip really needing the lyrics to stand up strongly.

THE JONZUN CREW: ‘Space Is The Place’ (US Tommy Boy TB-828).
Latest electronic instalment in the 125bpm 12in Soul Sonic Patrol orbiters saga, a must for fans and great for mixing with the rest, with useful effects intros on both sides.

QUADRANT SIX: ‘Body Mechanic’ (US Atlantic RFC 0-89992).
More of that 124bpm 12in electro stuff made especially for Soul Sonic Patrol orbiters, as good as any of ’em.